Charles J. Read: Apathy on gun deaths

I knew a fellow born in Chicago in the 1920s during the time crime ran amok. The criminals’ enemies were criminals. “My mother told us kids, if you hear a gun firing, get off the street. Immediately.” Families were not afraid of criminals they knew,

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Posted Jul. 3, 2014 @ 1:36 pm

I knew a fellow born in Chicago in the 1920s during the time crime ran amok. The criminals’ enemies were criminals. “My mother told us kids, if you hear a gun firing, get off the street. Immediately.” Families were not afraid of criminals they knew, the ones in their neighborhood.

Criminals were men (and a few women, their molls) who chose crime as a trade as others would be a shopkeeper or postal worker. Crime was a means of survival for lower-class immigrants. It was criminals from other neighborhoods who were dangerous, because they would drive through and shoot at your criminals. As in all wars, there were innocent bystanders.

I read statistics on gun deaths in Rhode Island. I see there were 3.14 deaths per 100,000 which is lowest in the country. I don’t see that as a bragging point. Few citizens will pay attention to gun deaths, as it does not happen in their neighborhood.

I don’t have access to such data, but my guess is that nearly all gun deaths are by criminals against criminals, or in this age, we can substitute the word gang.

We may glance at the headline of a gang shooting and death, shake our heads and say “What wrong with those people?” But it does not affect our lives in our safe, quiet neighborhoods one iota. Until the gun is pointed at us, until someone of good standing is shot, we won’t bother to speak out nor act against gun violence.